This story has been edited and re-posted due to some factual errors and misquotings. The Justice regrets the errors.In the past 20 years, Dr. Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. has been U.S.
Assistant Surgeon General, a rear admiral, the first ever Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Women's Health and a senior medical and eHealth advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She was a distinguished visiting professor of Women's Studies at Brandeis, following in the footsteps of fellow distinguished visiting professor Anita Hill (WGS). But her greatest achievement has been devoting her life to promoting women's health.

Blumenthal's dedication to women's health research was inspired by a tragedy that occurred when she was a young girl.

"When I was 10 years old, my mother developed thyroid cancer. I will never forget visiting her at the hospital and feeling the helplessness of that disease," she said.

Blumenthal started her public health initiative in her teens. Growing up next to Stanford University gave her the opportunity to work at Stanford's hospital. Blumenthal spent her teenage years applying herself to communications and public health in Stanford's News Bureau Office. She went on to complete her bachelor's degree at Reed College and returned to Stanford to complete her medical training, internship and residency.

While Blumenthal pursued her interest in medical research in college, her mother was plagued once more by cancer.

"The first year of college, my mother developed breast cancer. In my last year of medical school the disease spread into her spine," Blumenthal recounted.

Despite the devastating effects of her mother's disease, Blumenthal used the circumstances as motivation to continue her fight for women's health.

"My mother lived long enough to watch me get a medical degree," Blumenthal said. "I chose my college curriculum with medicine in mind," she added with determination.

While in medical school at Stanford, Blumenthal realized the medical field went beyond private practice and helping single individuals.

"Medicine allows you to work with one person at a time," Blumenthal said.

Instead of complying with the limitations of private practice, her goal was to benefit as many patients as possible, which is why she entered the field of medical research, she said.

"I went to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government [from 1981 to 1982], and afterward I was recruited for the National Institute for Health in Washington in 1984," Blumenthal said. "During my fellowship at the NIH [from 1980 to 1981], there were a lot of other factors that broadened my interest in public health."

As a public health official, Blumenthal cited Dr. Philip Lee, the assistant secretary of health and one of the architects of Medicare and Medicaid, as one of the most significant influences in her decision to pursue her interest in public health. Lee encouraged Blumenthal to to continue her pursuit of public health so that she could target a larger, national and global group of women's health issues.

One of Blumenthal's most significant achievements in the field of medical research is the Missiles to Mammograms Project, which she organized while she served as the country's first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women's Health. In the project, Blumenthal requested that CIA-developed imaging technology be used to identify cancer deposits in a woman's body and thus improve an MRI's diagnostic capabilities.

Throughout her career in public health, Blumenthal focused on breast cancer prevention. On February 5, 1997, she introduced her "Battle Against Breast Cancer" testimony to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, in which she pioneered breast cancer detection through innovative technology.

In the address to the Senate committee, Blumenthal suggested technology from NASA's Hubble Telescope be used as an alternative to surgical tissue removal. Blumenthal wanted to use optics from the Hubble to study women with nonpalpable lesions. Instead of surgical biopsies, which can be intrusive and risky, she advised using the telescope's image-guided needle to perform a diagnosis.

"What better peace dividend for our national investment than to save the lives of women?" Blumenthal said of the initiative. She added that her service to public health was "not only a job, but a calling to dedicate my life to improving women's health."

As a distinguished visiting professor at Brandeis, Blumenthal taught a joint women's studies and computer science class. In 2000, she started work on the first health Web site geared toward college-age women, www.4Collegewomen.org, along with Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC), Prof. Timothy J. Hickey (COSI) and several Brandeis students, including Esti Schabelman '01, Aaron Rubin '02, Becky Wolf '02 and Bridget Ahearn '01. Blumenthal launched the Web site in 2004 and modeled it after the government Web site she designed, www.4women.gov.

Blumenthal also co-taught a computer science and women's studies class with Hickey on merging computer technology with women's health. Women's studies students worked to develop resources for women's health, while computer science students wrote codes and developed links for the 4Collegewomen Web site.

Today, 4Collegewomen has become popular. The pink and purple page includes information about issues relating to college women, such as emotional and mental health, safety- and violence-related matters, health career opportunities and student essays.

"I think it's a great resource for any college woman who has questions. I think it's really important to have it stay current," said Beth Hoffman, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. Hoffman has been managing the content on the Web site since 2007.

"We're trying to revamp it, hopefully adding podcasts and a blog in the future," Hoffman said.

She promotes the Web site through letters sent to college deans and health centers informing health officials and college administrators about the Web site and asking webmasters for college health Web sites to include a link on their homepage.

Nataly Nguyen '10 said 4Collegewomen.org was more useful than the Brandeis Health Center Web site.

"I've been to [the Brandeis Health Center Web site], and there's not a lot in terms of useful information," Nguyen said. She felt the information on 4Collegewomen.org was helpful and addressed many common health concerns for women and men.

Blumenthal said that maintaining the Web site would be an ongoing effort.

The impassioned physician continues to contribute to the study of women's health in a variety of fields. She is currently working as a clinical professor at Georgetown University. She is also the director of the Health and Medicine program at the Center for the Study of the Presidency. The CSP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy and education organization promoting leadership in the presidency and Congress.

Blumenthal's interest in public health has expanded beyond the borders of the United States. In late April, she took a trip to Israel as the director of the Israeli-Palestinian health initiative for U.S. Agency for International Development.

"It was a productive trip with recommendations for a path forward. We met with health ministers in Israel and Palestine and highlighted cooperative projects in the region," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said that women's health issues are still her main focus.

"Women's health was neglected [before the 1980s]. There were inequalities in health care and research on women's health," she said. "We need to repair those inequities and encourage aggressive diagnostics in the future.